SATANISM'S TOLL RISES AS SUICIDES SPREAD IN GERMANY

By Martha Kleder

(cultureandfamily.org) - Parents and teachers in Europe are concerned about an increasing number of
teenage suicides linked to satanic activity.

Rural Germany, in the state of Saxony, which was part of East Germany until
the Berlin Wall fell, has had 15 occult-related youth suicides in less than two
years. Four other youths survived suicide attempts.

These events have put parents and officials on edge across Europe.

Noting the trend, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Britain is asking
schools to begin monitoring children’s use of the Internet and to warn them
about dabbling unsupervised with satanic sites — many of which describe
blood rituals in detail.

“This goes beyond reading a Harry Potter story,” the association’s general
secretary Peter Smith told The Times of London. “This represents an
extremely worrying trend among young people. Parents and teachers should
educate children and young people about the dangers of dabbling in the occult
before they become too deeply involved.”

Parents are also being warned not to depend on Internet filters to sift out
satanic and occult Web sites.

While there are no official figures on occult-driven suicides in Britain,
authorities nevertheless say they are becoming more common.

GERMAN TEEN SUICIDES LINKED TO SATANISM

Kurt Biedenkopf, Premier of the German state of Saxony, has promised a full
investigation into devil-worship in the region “to determine what forces are
driving our children to these desperate acts.”

That commitment was made after three Reichenbach teens leapt to their
deaths on August 26. A police spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur the
teens were known to be heavily involved with Satanism.

Authorities say the suicides are closely related to the Blue Rose cult, which
preys on the boredom of rural, unemployed youths and encourages suicide via
the Internet.

The Internet has played a major role in making satanic rituals look glamorous,
and Saxony parents are confiscating computers and mobile phones from their
children in an effort to halt the trend, according to Allan Hall, The Times’
Berlin correspondent. Others have sent their children out of the region to live
with friends and relatives.

Teachers in the area of Klietz, Germany, have told police and youth authorities
about a “depressed atmosphere” hanging over their classes. “It is very
troubling what is happening to our youth,” added one unnamed headmaster.

Local vicar Andreas Breit said: “The occult scene is thriving in this region.
They have had black masses in the ruins of buildings and in the open. They
have rituals and swear oaths.”

There has also been evidence of ritualistic animal sacrifice.

The upsurge in occult activities is no surprise to those watching the European
youth scene. Last year 30,000 youths gathered near Leipzig to hear occult
bands Wolfsheim and Elegia perform morbid songs about suicide and
depression.

The Rev. Thomas Gandow, Germany’s foremost cult expert, told United Press
International he is not surprised by this concentration of occult-related teen
suicides in the former East Germany. He says the secularization that started
with Hitler in the 1930s and continued under communism has taken its toll.

“During three generations, the ecclesial structures and the Christian
background of our society were willfully and systematically obliterated,” said
Gandow, a minister of the territorial Protestant church of Berlin and
Brandenburg. “The grassroots have been destroyed.

“If kids are exposed to the constant glorification of power and violence and do
not succeed in this endeavor, they might well be tempted to seek a ‘better’
life by putting a violent end to the present one,” Gandow said. “Perhaps this is
the rationale of all these teenage suicides.”

Home life may also play a key role, according to another German theologian,
Rev. Wilhelm Torgerson, provost of the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran
Church of Berlin.

Torgerson told UPI that most of the teens caught in Germany’s Satanism
revival share a common history. “They tend to hail from broken families
without any religion. They were raised in soulless, Soviet-style housing
estates, whose tenants no longer even have a faint memory of Christianity.”

SATANISM GROWING IN BRITAIN

Taking note of these happenings on the European continent, and the growing
number of British children who report having an interest in the occult, British
authorities want to take steps to head off the trend.

Police experts say about 1,000 cults now operate in Britain and spread their
popularity through the Internet.

Ian Hayworth, general secretary of the London-based Cult Information Centre,
has been touring schools to dispel the idea that only vulnerable youngsters fall
prey to satanic cults. He told The Times that recruiters are also active at
college and university campuses, distributing free magazines that offer links to
scores of Internet sites.

“There is no doubt the Internet means that many more youngsters can dip
into areas of the occult without realizing what they are [getting] themselves
into,” he said.

SATANIC ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE U.S.

Interest in Satanism and the occult is spreading on this side of the ocean as
well. While the dismantling of Christian culture has not progressed as far as in
Europe, occult-related interest and actions continue to grow.

Authorities in Colorado reported concern after two cats were found slain in a
ritualistic fashion in a Superior, Colorado, playground in late July. The killings
followed a similar incident in Jefferson County that occurred June 21.

Authorities in Boulder County say they are concerned the killings may be
related to a sacrifice or ceremony.

“This sort of thing in Superior doesn’t happen at all, not cats being killed like
that,” Boulder County Deputy Pat Hauges told The Rocky Mountain News.
“Even cruelty to animals, there’s very little of it here in town.”

On August 20, the San Miguel family of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, came home
to the news that their pet dogs had been killed in ritualistic fashion.

The same day, August 20, four people were arrested in Ardmore, Oklahoma,
following a rash of arson fires, including one that destroyed a church.

The arrests of Donnie James Clayburn, 19, and Alesha Michelle Denham, 28,
came after fire destroyed the Milo Baptist Church on August 13. Two private
residences were also set on fire, as were several grass fires.

Two others, Krista Lane Huffaker, 19, and Phillip John Tovar, 21, were arrested
on August 18 for allegedly desecrating more than 70 graves at a local
cemetery.

Gene Autry Baptist Church, a school in Springer, and the Gene Autry Museum
were also vandalized during that time.

Carter County Sheriff Harvey Burkhart told KOCO-TV that the four were
self-professed Satanists. He was relieved the arrests took only a week.
“Sometimes you never catch ’em. We were sure hoping there was more than
one, because usually when there’s more than one somebody talks, and that’s
what happened,” he said.

Burkhart said the group had planned to burn another church in the Sulphur
area. “They also discussed burning a black church,” he said.

Given the popularity of satanic and occult themes in entertainment, could the
troubles now facing Germany be just around the corner for American youth?